Plaquemine and Back p7

Seems I'd been in Morley. That explains Al coming down the canal. He said his cousin, Hernando DeSoto, Jr., lived there. I'm sorry, some of you don't know Al's full name It's C. Alfonso DeLaSalle. Yes, he's related to that LaSalle. Let's not discuss what the "C." is for.

I crossed back across La.1 and headed to the river. My next target were the locks on the Mississippi River, but I'd explore Brusly and Antonio, first.

There's your church Ray.



And the tree at the end of the parking lot with the levee behind it.



A local home.





This is the first historical marker I've found with different subjects on the same marker. This was on the other side:



This is a house that was right down the street. How could I miss its historical marker?



Another HM near there.



Up on the levee was a "levee rider". This was a rare sighting as levee riding has all but ceased except where it is the only route, like on La.15.



Next was a pretty place. Again the Levert name is seen.







The road turned back toward La.1. I took this chance to hop on the levee myself, just for a few shots of the I-10 Mississippi River Bridge.





The La. Capital is the tall building behind the bridge. It is the tallest in the US.

The next pictures are of the second rail bridge across the Port Allen Canal, just west of the locks.

The one at Morley seems to be its twin.






A few of the locks.





I left passing an old farm or plantation. It had seen better times.



I rode into Port Allen and whoa, I found the depot.



The old building was surrounded to the point of almost being indistinguishable.





Next was a look at the caboose.





There was a broken window I stuck the camera through.



And a desk.



I then took the back way to Rosedale. West of Rosedale I stopped when the rail crossing lit up. This idiot in a pickup truck passed me and ran the warning lights. The train was moving. It had come from Lottie. It was short and fast.





'

It was there quickly. I counted one two three. I also considered turning around and heading back to Morley to meet it coming out of the forest. That seems like a doable deal. That's it.

Plaquemine and Back p6

I was heading toward my goal, the first point a train could be seen coming from Grosse Tete. Different strokes for different folks. I traded the bike for a bi-plane, which brings me to this:



You Can't Catch Me/Rolling Stones

I bought a brand new airmobile
It was custom made
It was a Flight DeVille
With an outboard motor
And some hideaway wings
Push in on the button and you can hear her sing
Now you can't catch me
No, baby, you can't catch me
'Cause if you get too close
You know I'm gone like a cool breeze

Old La.1 in the wee wee hours
I was rolling slowly 'cause of drizzlin' showers
Up come a flattop he was movin' up with me
Then come sailin' goodbye
In a little old souped up Mini
I put my foot in my tank and I begin to roll
Moanin' sirens, was the state patrol
So I get out my wings and then I blew my horn
Bye-bye Plaquemine Parish, I become airborne

Now you can't catch me
No, baby you can't catch me
'Cause if you get too close
You know I'm gone like a cool breeze

Flyin' with my baby last Saturday night
Wasn't no gray cloud floatin' in sight
Big full moon shinin' up above
Cuddle up honey be my love
Sweetest little thing that I ever seen
I'm gonna name you Mabelline
Flyin' with all the things set on flight control
Radio tuned to rock 'n' roll
Two, three hours passin' by
Altitude dropped to 505
Fuel consumption way too fast
Let's get on home before we run out of gas

Now you can't catch me
No baby, you can't catch me
'Cause if you get too close
You know I'm gone like a cool breeze

I was flying low and slow and shot these old places. Not all the shots can be rail related, Gaspard.





Landing in the small oyster shell parking lot, I took a couple of shots. I have added captions to avoid having to write an explanation.





I had called it Folks Landing, but I don't think so?



Now the pretty stuff that makes La. landings nirvana.



The fan is a must. Our heat and humidity becomes air conditioning when it gets moving.



Uphill parking is available if your Jeep has been submerged or caught in a 3pm monsoon.
I had used realistic brown water coming from the jeep, but that didn't put forth the vision I intended. So I went with an unrealistic blue.



Alright Gaspard, here are the bridge shots. This is the place where the rails exit the swamp. The waterway is an arm of the Intracoastal Canal called the Port Allen Canal. This is a correction for every time I've said "Intracoastal Canal" and forget the "arm" thing also.

I backtracked and found the road to the bridge. I proceeded slowly and quietly on foot, not knowing what I was getting into. The plane would have been conspicuous. There were trucks parked there but no one was in sight. There was a rail shed that was open with the lock hanging. Possibly a worker had taken a ride on one of those yellow deals? I, obviously had the run of the place. Soaking it, I took 4o shots.



I wandered around at the base of the bridge, smitten by being so close. The last time that had happened was in Simmesport.






I obeyed this warning to the tee. If a picture seems that I didn't, I did. Those pictures which look illegal were taken using mirrors and lenses.

*Mirror shot:



Mirror and lens shot: Looking toward Grosse Tete.



Mirror Shot: Looking toward Addis.



Non Mirror shots, one lens.



The AC is gone, not good.



I rode back to the landing to see if I could cop a shot. Yea.



Geezus, It's Al.
Al, watch where you going, cher.

He says he knows where he's going by where he's been. Somehow I think he has missed the exact concept which that statement would normally mean. That would only work, I keep telling him, if he only went where he's been. He replied, "Duh, And?"



Believe it or not, there's much more. CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEXT PAGE

Plaquemine and Back p5

I headed north on La.1 in pursuit of the first point where a train could be seen coming south from Grosse Tete. I noticed a freight stopped on the tracks pointed south. I took out my camera to take the obligatory shot when a real laugh occurred.



The next pictures are not very good. I was shooting into the sun and they are zoomed out pretty far.

This above picture is zoomed and cropped. Unfortunately, I could not make out the number which messes up my theory.



Here came the lead 2 of the Trio.





The pictures expand when clicked. The engine numbers are 5371 and 7895 The missing CSX engine is 5307. It had been dropped off. Was 5307 pulling the sidetracked freight? Could be.

If I had put the throttle to the stops, could I have caught the Trio emerging from the wilderness, No, so don't try it.

Needing a grin and getting one, I moved on.
Another grin was had seeing the oaks that lined La.1. Similar oaks are along US 190 coming into Baton Rouge from the west.



Here's the page map.



More grins were to come.

I saw a light shining from within an industry gate.



I was off of La.1 and decided to make the block toward the river. The river is where you find history. A familiar family's name, Levert, was mentioned on this historical marker next to the river. The Leverts own St. Johns Mill near St. Martinville.



I next crossed La.1 and checked out the Addis train yard.









I moved on and found this old bank, now a museum.







Behind it was a caboose. The museum was in the right place to pick up on a caboose.



High Tech



Handy part numbers make the job easier.



While there, here came another one.



Your Tropicana Orange Juice is on its way.



The highway sign reminds me, it's La. 990, once known as La.1, now referred to locally as Old 1.
The Addis yard is aligned with the tracks coming from Grosse Tete. It is possible that 5307 had been left there. I saw an engine I believed had those numbers but looked to be a different type of engine?? I need to learn to just let some things go. I hooked back up with La.1 and continued north until coming to La.989-1. I went west on it until the tracks where I stopped for this picture and where I'll stop this page. CLICK HERE to go to the next page. That will be the grand finale.